Diamantaire’s ‘confidant’ remanded in ED custody

Mumbai: A special Enforcement Directorate (ED) court on Wednesday remanded Shyam Sunder Wadhwa, vice-president of finance at the Firestar Group and a close confidant of absconding jeweller Nirav Modi, to ED custody till April 3 in connection with Punjab Nation Bank (PNB) fraud case. During arguments for grant of custody, Wadhwa retracted his two statements given before the agency before his arrest.

ED counsel Hiten Vene-gaonkar had sought Wadhwa’s custody on the grounds that he is not co-operating in the investigation and further investigation in this matter is going on. The case has international ramifications involving companies incorporated in countries and monies generated by criminal activity hence sustained interrogation of Wad-hwa is required.

Mr Venegaonkar told the court that case has been registered by the ED, as the FIR registered by the CBI in connection with PNB fraud case has revealed commission of Scheduled Offences and suspected laundering of money earned from the crime. According to Mr Venegaonkar, Wadhwa had denied having any knowledge or interaction with those persons. However, when he was confronted with the statement of Kartik Doshi, director of Sino Traders Ltd, a Hong Kong based company controlled by Modi, where he had stated about interaction with Wadhwa, the accused changed his stance and clarified that and allegedlyapologised for giving false statement on March 26, 2018.

The ED has also alleged that Wadhwa worked closely with Modi and appears to be presently in close touch with him. According to ED he appears to be involved in money laundering on behest of Modi. The agency claimed that he has tried to mislead the
probe. Senior advocate Vijay Agarwal strongly opposed the ED’s application saying Wadhwa was kept in illegal custody and hence the court should not remand him to ED custody.